RAND WATER ANNUAL REPORT 2023

BRINGING OUR HISTORY TO LIFE:

Gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand, leading to a growth in population and expanding industries, for which there was not enough water available. Persistent droughts in the I890s compounded the problem. Initially the burgeoning mining industry and the thousands of diggers and prospectors relied on minor streams and rivers like the Jukskei River, the Natal Spruit, Braamfontein Spruit and a few fountains and wells to sustain their mining efforts and livelihood. During this time, many small water companies vied for the right to sell water to Johannesburg’s residents. In 1895, commission of enquiry determined that a public body should be created to replace and consolidate the multitude of private companies then operating for profit. In a report of 26 February 1902, the Witwatersrand Water Supply Commission recommended that the government give consideration to the establishment of an inscitution that could go by the name of ‘The Rand Water Board’. The Rand Water Board was officially established on 8 May 1903 in terms of Ordinance No. 32 of 1903, published in the Transvaal Government Gazette. The first official board meeting took place on 15 May 1903

Zuurbekom pumping station was completed in 1898-9 and was able to provide Johannesburg with sufficient water until the early I900s. The water obtained from Zuurbekom was abstracted from wells on the farm. The main Pump House building was built over one of these wells and is still visible and accessible through a tunnel under the Main Gallery. The Zuurbekom Pump House was declared a national monument, and an official unveiling ceremony of the bronze plaque of the monuments council took place in December 1976

1898 Reliable Source of Water Zuurbekom

1886 Discovery of Gold

At the time of the establishment of the Rand Water Board, it had to consolidate all the available water resources under its authority. An arbitration court sat from 6 December 1904 to January 1905 and it emerged that the Rand Water Board would be allowed to expropriate a number of private operations that owned water supplies

Expropriation of Private Water Companies 1904-5

1903 Birth of the Rand Water Board

Droughts, population growth and industrialisation obliged the rapidly growing Rand Water Board to seek additional sources of water supply. The Vaal River Development Scheme was approved in 1914 and this allowed for the construction of the Vaal River Barrage Scheme which created a much needed reservoir in the Vaal River. On 27 July 1923 the Governor-General of South Africa officially opened the scheme. This additional water source pushed the daily water supply capacity to 67,5 million litres per day.

The Zwartkopjes Pumping Station was the first pumping station that was built by Rand Water. It was the main collection point from where water was distributed to the mines and to Johannesburg’s residents. The supply from Zwartkopjes was brought into service in 1908; and for some time the water available from this source combined with the water from Zuurbekom, was adequate to meet the water supply needs of the time.

1914 Vaal River Development Scheme

1907 Zwartkopjes

Further to the building of the Barrage, a pumping station at Vereeniging Pumping Station was built to increase water supply capacity. The treated potable water from Vereeniging was pumped to the Zwartkopjes Pumping Station from where, using steam turbine driven centrifugal pumps for the first time, the water was pumped against a head of 350 metres to the higher regions of the Witwatersrand.

Before construction of the Barrage, a benchmarking visit was conducted to Egypt and Europe with respect to the latest engineering technology. Upon completion, the Barrage was an ambitious water and engineering project success, consisting of a steel-reinforced concrete structure, capable of withstanding all types of flooding conditions. It is situated 40 km downstream from Vereeniging and spans the Vaal river over a width of more than 400m. The Vaal River is dammed up over a distance of approximately 60 - 70 km with extraction taking place at a point well above the site where the major storage source was located.

1923 Birth of Vereeniging Pumping Station

1923 Completion of the Barrage

Since its establishment in 1903, Rand Water Board had always made use of rented accommodation. The first meetings of the Board were in fact held at the Rand Hotel. In 1925 the Board appointed a sub-committee to investigate a new Head Office complex built specifically to the requirements of the Board. In November 1925, construction was started on the building and the office was occupied by employees in September 1926. By 1928 the total Rand Water Board staff complement was 602, of these, 47 members were based at Head Office. In April 1939, it was decided that the Board would acquire a plot of land in Fraser Street Johannesburg as a means of addressing the problem of shortage of office space. The new building complex was to be four stories high with a basement that served as a parking garage. The new Head Office building was situated at 3 Fraser Street, Johannesburg. The mailing address was P O Box 1127, Johannesburg 2000, as it remains to this day. In the 1970s experts were of the opinion that the building was still one of the outstanding architectural features of Johannesburg.

It was agreed in 1934 that the Board should contribute towards the cost of a new dam in the Vaal River, the Vaal Dam, for the rights to store a certain quantity of water and to abstract an initial 60 million gallons per day. The sprawling Vaal Dam was completed in 1938 which culminated in the commissioning of the Zuikerbosch Pumping Station in 1955. These farsighted schemes ensured a reliable and sustained supply of water.

1930-1955 Construction of Vaal Dam

1925 Construction of the first Head Office bulding for the Rand Water Board

Following the completion of the Vaal Dam, building of the Zuikerbosch Purification and Pumping Station commenced in 1949, further increasing the total potable water supply to 150 million gallons per day. The site was strategical placed in order to obtain water from the Vaal River upstream of the inflow of the Suikerbosrand and Klip Rivers. It translated into water of consistent quality, which had not been contaminated by the highly mineralised waters of the above mentioned rivers.

1940 Rand Water Head Office at Fraser Street

1949-1955 The Zuikerbosch Scheme